Journal Jackpot from Thur.,
Oct 1, 1970, edition of the Portland Oregon Journal daily evening
newspaper. Note listing of "Linfield at Pacific Lutheran" game. It
was played Sat., Oct. 3, 1970,
==For the Wildcats, Steve "Sparky" Davis from Salem (North Salem High School) was a
linebacker in the 1968 and 1969 seasons and a kicker after that. His
straight-ahead kicking made him Linfield's leading football scorer in the 1970
season. During the Oct. 3, 1970, night game (8 o'clock kickoff) he “booted” a
33-yard field goal with nine seconds left to beat PLU, 16-13, on Franklin
Pierce High School field, said story in Sunday Oregonian, Oct. 4, 1970.
The Monday Oregon
Journal, Oct. 5, 1970, reported “Linfield,
16-13, winner over the Lutes in the NWC ‘game of the year’ in Tacoma on a dramatic
field goal by Steve Davis with nine seconds left…”
In his game story (Sunday Oregonian, Oct.
4, 1970), Oregonian reporter Lynn Mucken, wrote that Davis' kick was
“drilled right down the center of the goalposts, capped a bitterly-fought
contest between the two undefeated NWC powers. PLU was ranked first in the NAIA
in offense and Linfield led the nation in defense.”
PLU kicked a field goal with 2:31 left in the
game. Then, Linfield's offense took over, wrote Mucken. "Mike Achong, who
scored twice, started things with a 31-yard scamper around left end. Then Dave
White, the Wildcats' blossoming quarterback hit tight end Bernard
Peterson with three big passes to push the ball to the PLU 22-yard line.
"There, Davis, who beat Oregon College of
Education last season with a field goal after time had elapsed, drilled his
game-winner to give Linfield a 3-0 season record and a big victory over the
team favored for the NWC title."
Scoring
for Linfield only in box score for Oct. 3, 1970 Linfield in 1970 football game
vs. PLU in Tacoma from Sunday Oregonian, Oct. 4, 1970:
TD – Mike Achong 4-yard run (PAT kick by Steve Davis failed)
TD – Mike Achong 10-yard run (PAT kick by Steve Davis good)
FG – 32-yard kick by Steve Davis
::::::::::::::::::::::::
Note that game story in Sunday
Oregonian of Oct. 4, 1970, said Steve Davis’s field goal was 33-yards. Box
score says it was 32-yards. Steve made his field goal in "last four
seconds of the game" said, PLU Scene,
Oct. 1970 issue of Scene, PLU alumni newspaper. However, Sunday Oregonian story says the field goal was made with nine
seconds left. The Oct. 9, 1970, edition of the Seattle Times said, “Linfield’s Steve Davis kicked a 32-yard field
goal with four seconds to play.”
POSTSCRIPTS
--Holding the football for the fateful kick was Linfield wingback Sonny Jepson of Salem (South Salem). He told Wildcatville on 10/29/2020, "To this day, I recall that as the ball was going between the goal posts, the game film verifies I nearly jumped up as high as the posts, with my hands in the air. Sparky and I went crazy, and it was a moment we often recalled in later years."
--Linfield won the 1970 Northwest Conference championship.
::::
Story below from Sunday Oregonian, Oct. 4, 1970.
Charles Humble, Statesman Sports
Writer, reporting on the Oct. 3, 1970, Linfield at PLU game in the Oct. 4, 1970,
edition of Salem’s Oregon Statesman daily
newspaper said the Steve Davis kick was 33-yards with 8 seconds left.
A story in the Oct. 5, 1970, Salem Capital Journal daily newspaper of Salem
by Jack Sareault, “Capital Journal Special Writer,” wrote the “Steve Davis is a
hero among heroes on the Linfield College campus” for kicking a 32-yard field goal
with “a mere four seconds remaining…” to beat PLU in Tacoma.
The Oct. 3, 1970, Linfield College “Wildcats” and Pacific Lutheran University “Knights” game was played in Tacoma, says the Oct. 7, 1970, McMinnville News-Register. The game story says Steve Davis kick to win the game took place with 9 seconds left and it was for 33-yards. However, cutline for Rusty Rae’s photo in the same issue showing the kick says it was for 32-yards. The photo here is a cropped version of what ran in the N-R.
